LED-based digital diameter measurement

This paper presents a new industrial sensor for measuring diameters of extreme thin objects. The system is divided in two parts. The first is the emitter and the second the receiver. It is possible to use this system for the automatic inspection of files and wires in the textile industries and wire works. Another application for the sensor is the control of production of chemical files in an extruder. Furthermore we can measure more than one object in the lightbeam because we get information not only about the dimensions also about the position of the objects in the beam. The innovation in this system is the using of a light emitting diode (LED) as emitter and the realization of a long distance of about two or more meters between the two sensorheads. The results of this development are a special kind of optical layout in the emitter to reduce the loss of intensity and minimize the divergence of the lightbeam. It is not necessary to develop an intensity distribution, which is equal over the complete width of the sensorhead. We can show that we have a better dynamic in the system with this feature. The experiments prove that we get the same resolution as a laserbeamsensor. Furthermore one advantage is the eye-safety.